The Pittsburgh Penguins couldn't do what the Ottawa Senators did in game 1 in Pittsburgh, and that is weather the storm. Ottawa's first game on home ice in a conference final in 10 years was better than could have possibly been expected and when the horn sounded on the first 20 minutes, Ottawa's 4-0 lead was more than enough to propel them to a 5-1 win and a 2-1 series lead.

Mike Hoffman got the ball rolling in the first minute, taking a rebound off the back boards and banking it in past Marc-Andre Fleury. Then they exploded for three goals in a franchise record 2:18, from Marc Methot, Derick Brassard and Zack Smith and it was all good from there. Fleury was replaced by Matt Murray, who was sharp in his season playoff debut but he can't score a well as stop the puck.

Kyle Turris scored in the second period to extend the lead to 5-0 before a power play goal from Sidney Crosby six minutes into the third period broke Craig Anderson's shutout bid but it was far too little, much too late for the Penguins.

The Senators wasted the great Anderson performance in game 2 by not generating enough offense in transition when they got turnovers, but that wasn't an issue as they gave their goaltender some early goal support. Anderson has held the Penguins to 3 goals in 3 games, and has stopped 80 of 83 shots in this series.

Dion Phaneuf continued to be a huge thorn in the side of good friend Phil Kessel, getting the Penguins sniper off his game and physically dominating his former Toronto teammate.

The biggest surprise might not be that the Senators are leading the series, but that they have done so without a single dominant performance from Erik Karlsson. The assist he earned on Smith's goal was his first point in the series, but he has been part of the reason that Sidney Crosby has been shut out at even strength (his late goal was his first point of the series) and is a -4 in the three games. Karlsson is +5 in the series on the strength of his and Methot's +4 in game 3, and the Senators captain now leads the playoffs with a +13 rating.

The Penguins have an interesting decision to make in goal for game 4. Fleury allowed four goals on nine shots before getting the hook, but he is a big reason why the Penguins are where they are. But Matt Murray was the number 1 before getting hurt in the pre-game warmup for game one of the first round and

There was and will be a lot of talk about the word "boring". And if you saw the first two games of this series in a vacuum, you wouldn't be wrong. Whether it was brilliant game planning by Guy Boucher or just how things worked out, it has been near perfect for the Senators so far. The first two games against the Penguins weren't representative of how the Senators have played this season. Yes, responsible defensive hockey is the cornerstone, but the transition game and pinching with their defensemen was almost non-existent which mucked things up.

Wednesday night was more like it, and although you couldn't have expected 4 first period goals, that was the system that has seen Ottawa score three or more goals in 7 of 15 playoff game thus far (by comparison the vaunted Penguins offense has scored 3 or more in 8 of 15 games). Ottawa has been held to less than 25 shots just twice, while the free-wheeling Pens have been held fewer than 25 on 5 occasions in this playoff season. Both teams have played 15 games, and the Senators have in excess of 100 more shot attempts at 5-on-5 than the Penguins.

Responsible defensive hockey, 1-3-1, or trap, whatever you want to call it, has been effective for the Senators. If guys doing their jobs to get their opponents off their game and shut some of the best offensive players in the game is boring, then embrace boring. It has got them within two games of a Stanley Cup Final and six wins of a Stanley Cup, somewhere they haven't been for 10 years. And after fourteen games of edge of your seat, tense close hockey games (aside from the first two games in New York in round 2), it was nice for Senators fans to have a boring old 4 goal lead for most of a game for a change.

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